Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Gets Revised

[inferKNOX]

No Nickle Plating(looks worse)
Cheaper Mounting Brackets(Push Pins!!! They sell a bolt through kit for 775, why not just include it instead of the BS push pin brackets? And they don't even offer a bolt through kit for AM2/3.)
Lower Quality

Have you come across the Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283?

 

[Bo_Fox]

trt740: lapping only helped me since my CPU and my heatsink were both convex. my cores had a 10C difference between core 1 and core 4 - lapping reduced that. i believe lapping the CPU made the most difference.

inferknox: you can use any fan with a xiggie. they use a funny little rubber mount, but thats transferable to any standard fan, and you could always resort to zip ties.

Yo, same here! Lapping my IFX-14 made a huge difference!

The base was so convex that when I put it on a table, it wobbled! I had to go back to Lowe's to get more sandpaper, since all the recommended amount I had was used up for lapping off so much copper! After more than 1 hour of grinding, it was finally flat.. oh man, my hands were so sore (with a few cuts on my fingers from the fins.. yeah, I shoulda wore gloves).

Roughly 7-10 degrees cooler now under idle, but it could also be because I added washers to the backplate to increase the pressure (which was lost due to lapping nearly 2mm of copper off). There was more pressure this time around anyways. That's on a Core i7 920 oc'ed to 4 GHz.

The IFX-14 is better than TRUE by at least 5 degrees on Core i7's, according to the recent reviews. It just performs better on those bigger chips than on Core2's. I am not sure why, but all the reviews using Corei7's clearly show how the IFX-14 is really that much better than the rest of all others, including Megahalems, Mugen2, Baram, Noctua, etc... My own IFX-14 barely becomes hot to touch, with two 2000rpm fans in push-push configuration. It's a mini room-heater though when I fold with all 8 threads.

 

[trt740]

Yo, same here! Lapping my IFX-14 made a huge difference!

The base was so convex that when I put it on a table, it wobbled! I had to go back to Lowe's to get more sandpaper, since all the recommended amount I had was used up for lapping off so much copper! After more than 1 hour of grinding, it was finally flat.. oh man, my hands were so sore (with a few cuts on my fingers from the fins.. yeah, I shoulda wore gloves).

Roughly 7-10 degrees cooler now under idle, but it could also be because I added washers to the backplate to increase the pressure (which was lost due to lapping nearly 2mm of copper off). There was more pressure this time around anyways. That's on a Core i7 920 oc'ed to 4 GHz.

The IFX-14 is better than TRUE by at least 5 degrees on Core i7's, according to the recent reviews. It just performs better on those bigger chips than on Core2's. I am not sure why, but all the reviews using Corei7's clearly show how the IFX-14 is really that much better than the rest of all others, including Megahalems, Mugen2, Baram, Noctua, etc... My own IFX-14 barely becomes hot to touch, with two 2000rpm fans in push-push configuration. It's a mini room-heater though when I fold with all 8 threads.

it should be it's 3 times the size of a TRUE and won't fit in half the case out I think we are talking normal conventional coolers here.

 

[newtekie1]

Have you come across the Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283?

I have, any while it does look a litte better, it still isn't that great. The nickle plating is very cheap looking when you see it in person. Almost like it was just thrown on as an afterthrough(which it was). While the TRUE looks like some actual through was put into it. The nickle has been polished, and looks nice, unlike the Dark Knight.

Also, it doesn't help the coolers quality any, it still feels cheap. And the quality control standards are Xigmatek leave a lot to be desired. All 3 that I've ordered have had bent fins on arrival. I guess bent fins shouldn't really be an issue since you have to bend them to get the stupid rubber fan mounts in anyway...

 

[vega22]

wow, this redisgn is almost on par nvidias lazieness with the 9xxx range.

ifx-14 still kills and the more volts you throw at it the more it streches its legs.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/core-i7-coolers-roundup_19.html#sect0

 

[trt740]

wow, this redisgn is almost on par nvidias lazieness with the 9xxx range.

ifx-14 still kills and the more volts you throw at it the more it streches its legs.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/core-i7-coolers-roundup_19.html#sect0

The ifx-14 is incompatible with over half the motherboards and cases made and after you buy all the needed fans it's crazy expensive. It's really not a option for most people.

 

[Bo_Fox]

The ifx-14 is incompatible with over half the motherboards and cases made and after you buy all the needed fans it's crazy expensive. It's really not a option for most people.

True, but the IFX-14 is compatible with practically all of X58 motherboards out there. It could fit in my medium/small ATX case. It can be rotated so that the air blows vertically or horizontally, and you can use it with only 1 fan in the middle, sucking air through one tower and pushing it through the other (a 38mm fan can be in the middle, for more effectiveness using the same RPM and equal noise as a 25mm fan). If it is not compatible with your (small) case, you could rotate it so that it does not touch the power supply above.

Anyways, I would think that the TRUE is definitely a great cooler anyways.. I almost bought it after all, before taking the plunge for an IFX-14. My next one would be Xigmatek Thor's Hammer:

because it just looks so cool with all of the neat features (4 thick HDT heatpipes and 3 regular ones on top), Baram-like fins, etc.. if I decide to get this:

http://www.svc.com/acts-t.html

 

[trt740]

Thors hammer has a poorly constructed base from what I read in reviews , but is very good but not as good as a TRUE close but not as good.